Man fathers 150 children

Sperm donors fathering more kids

After using a sperm donor with her partner to conceive a baby, one woman decided to keep track of the other children that had the same donor father and found the number to be a whopping 150.

And the list is still getting longer.

Cynthia Daily, 48, began keeping track through the Internet after her son was born seven years ago, with plans on one day putting together a family reunion of sorts with all the half brothers and sisters that came from the same sperm donor. Little did she know she would have to rent a banquet hall to do it.

Daily tells the New York Times, “It’s wild when we see them al together — they all look alike.”

The NYT reports that Daily’s experience is above the ordinary, but there are still numerous sperm donor groups that are made up of over 50 half siblings that are able to connect through modern technology like social media. While the children of these donors may get a kick out of their new “extended families,” having so many kids sharing some of the same DNA is starting to raise alarm bells, including concerns about increasing the prevalence of rare genetic diseases.

Debora L. Spar, president of Barnard College and author of a book about the sperm bank industry, was quoted as saying, “We have more rules that go into place when you buy a used car than when you buy sperm. It’s very clear that the dealer can’t sell you a lemon, and there’s information about the history of the car. There are no such rules in the fertility industry right now.”

There are currently no limits in place in the United States as to how many children may be conceived from one sperm donor.

Wendy Kramer, founder of the Donor Sibling Registry, is calling for more regulation of sperm banks, saying, “These sperm banks are keeping donors anonymous, making women babies and making a lot of money. But nowhere in that formula is doing what’s right for the donor families.”

Daily also feels the “need to start advocating for some regulation [of sperm banks.]”

Dr. Robert G. Brzyski, chairman of the ethics committee at the American Society for Reproductive Medicine’s ethics committee, told the NYT that previous guidelines regarding risks of unknowing brothers and sisters marrying were based on donor rates that have changed over the years and need to be revisited.

“I think those models were very limited in their vision when they created. Now I think there needs to be a reassessment of the criteria and the policies regarding the appropriate number of offspring,” Brzyski said.